We hope you’ve had a productive and positive year and are looking forward to a nice break.
Over the past month there’s been plenty of news for accountants that you might have missed so we’ve gathered together in one place.
You can also catch up on all the other business and insolvency news stories from the week right here.
We also have our Accounts Hub so you’ll be able to access the most important and timely insolvency information whenever you need it.
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New Insolvency Service Chief Executive
The Insolvency Service have announced that Duncan Beach will become their new Chief Executive from January 5th 2026.
Previously Managing Director and Global Head of Risk & Compliance Transformation at HSBC, he will replace the current interim Chief Executive, Alex Pybus.
Duncan Beach said: “I’m proud to be joining the Insolvency Service as the organisation continues to develop and modernise. It makes a real difference to people’s lives and the UK’s economic stability – from tackling financial wrongdoing and protecting legitimate businesses, to supporting people and businesses in financial difficulty. This work has never been more important.
“I’m excited to work with colleagues across the organisation to set out our vision in the new strategy we’ll be launching in April. Building on the strong foundations already in place, we have a real opportunity to strengthen our capabilities and deliver even greater impact for those who need us most.”
Duncan has more than 20 years of experience delivering strategic change and innovation across large, complex organisations with expertise in financial crime prevention, regulatory change, operational excellence and leveraging technology.
Loan Charge Overhaul
Following the recommendations of the independent McCann Review into Loan Charge liabilities, the government has announced that they are accepting the vast majority of recommendations and going further in some areas. They said: “A new settlement opportunity will help those with outstanding liabilities resolve their affairs with HMRC.”
They confirmed that legislation would be introduced immediately in the Finance Bill and HMRC would begin contacting eligible customers from January 2026.
The McCann review was published at the Budget earlier this week and followed an extensive investigation into the payment problems with the loan charge, and detailed evidence about the sale of the disguised remuneration packages by promoters, as well as a breakdown in communications between HMRC and taxpayers who owed the loan charge.
The review was launched “to help bring this matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness to all taxpayers.”. The government “hopes this review offers a clear path to resolution, allowing those affected to finally put this matter behind them.”
The settlement opportunity will be open to approximately 23,000 individuals and 4,000 employers, subject to the loan charge, who have not yet resolved their disguised remuneration use with HMRC. It will also be open to approximately 10,000 individuals and 1,000 employers who have not fully paid their outstanding liabilities to HMRC.
HMRC estimates that this will cost approximately £365 million between the settlement opportunity’s launch and 2030/31.
The McCann review said: “Through the new settlement, individuals and HMRC can agree a reduced settlement amount, with the difference to their current Loan Charge liability suspended. If the terms of the suspension (e.g. continued compliance) are met, the suspended amount should be written off after an agreed period of time.”
There is also a recommended method to calculate the suspended liability with a new settlement amount. The difference between that and the current Loan Charge liability is the suspended element.
The review also recommended the following:-
- Unstack the tax years and calculate the tax owed in the years in which the income was earned;
- Suspend a proportion to account for promoters’ fees – suspend up to 10% (tapered by income) of gross scheme income per tax year to account for fees paid;
- Suspend late payment interest;
- Do not seek to apply penalties as standard; and
- Do not collect inheritance tax through this settlement.
Additionally, they should allow payment plans of up to five years by default and up to ten years with HMRC approval. The report recommended that 10 years should be the maximum length of payment but with a caveat: “if an individual cannot afford to pay the liability over 10 years, then, as a backstop, the remainder could be suspended.”
It also recommends that anyone facing the loan charge on state pension or universal credit should be treated as exceptional cases, where there is “no reasonable prospect of recovering much of the liability due to the economic circumstances.”
Where liabilities are settled with employers rather than the employees, HMRC should not disallow any Corporation Tax deduction, and as with individuals, not apply penalties or inheritance tax (IHT), and ensure sufficient time to pay is available. McCann also said promoters should be banned from providing additional tax services to avoid conflicts of interest, such as providing further tax advice or doing self-assessment tax returns.
McCann also appeals to professional bodies ICAEW, CIOT and ICAS, among others, to “ensure that the limitation periods that they apply in relation to their disciplinary proceedings are realistic in the context of a tax scheme where failings in the quality of the advice or the activities of the adviser may not become known for a number of years after the scheme is used.”
Government Drops Plans to regulate tax advisors
Following pushback from professional bodies, the government has abandoned plans to introduce a new regulatory framework for tax advisers. Following consultation in early 2024, the government confirmed at the Budget that it will not go ahead with plans to regulate tax advisers and instead “will work in partnership with the sector to raise standards in the tax advice market.”
There is going to be a change in 2026 when HMRC launches a new register for all advisers who “interact” with HMRC, which will affect tens of thousands of accountants, tax advisers and lawyers.
The Association of Accounting Technicians (ATT) said it supported the decision not to move ahead with the proposed regulation, but cautioned that “work must be done to raise standards in the market to ensure taxpayers are not given poor advice.”
Emma Rawson, ATT Director of Public Policy, said: “We welcome the clarity provided by the announcement. With the forthcoming mandatory registration of tax agents and the transition of anti-money laundering (AML) supervision from professional bodies to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), tax advisers already face significant changes over the next few years.
“However, there must be a focus on raising standards and introducing safeguards in order to significantly reduce the risk of poor quality or misleading guidance being given to taxpayers. We look forward to HMRC building on the introduction of the agent register and future discussions about a clearer, more coherent approach to raising standards.”
HMRC ending automatic letters in March 2026
In an attempt to reduce print and postage costs by up to £50 million and modernise customer communications, HMRC confirmed that they would no longer send out letters automatically to taxpayers from next Spring.
They will instead receive emails notifying them of new documents in their personal tax accounts or through the HMRC app instead.
As part of the ambitious Digital by Default programme, the agency aims to move 90% of all interactions with taxpayers to online or digital-only by 2029/30. Under the plan, digital letters will be sent to taxpayers’ HMRC accounts, not their email addresses. Taxpayers will be required to provide an email (or other digital contact detail) for the HMRC app and online account.
A spokesperson for HMRC said: “Only those who log into their online tax account or HMRC app will be asked to provide their contact details. Anyone else will continue to receive paper letters – including those choosing to opt out if they need to continue receiving paper communications. It’s for people who already interact with us digitally, or do so in the future.”
HMRC could take money directly from debtor company accounts
Some companies that are in arrears on Corporation Tax, VAT or National Insurance contributions are receiving letters from HMRC saying that they may consider recovering funds they are owed directly from the company’s bank or building society accounts.
In September, HMRC restarted their Direct Recovery of Debts (DRD) programme which was paused during the Covid-19 pandemic. They are currently in a “test and learn phase” and have restricted their DRD activities to a small number of companies but will review the outcome of this engagement before expanding the use of their powers to more taxpayers including individuals.
The DRD powers are subject to several safeguards including HMRC only applying DRD where a person or company has established debts; has passed the timetable for appeals and has repeatedly ignored HMRC’s attempts to make contact. HMRC will also have a face-to-face meeting with a taxpayer before debts are recovered through DRD.
HMRC has a range of other options open to it for collecting debt where no payment plan or Time To Pay agreement has been agreed, including bailiffs and debt collection agencies.
Corrupt Accountants to be targeted by new police unit
The government has announced the creation of an anti-corruption police unit whose main focus will be on “corrupt lawyers, accountants and bankers”.
The unit’s main aim will be to target money laundering and financial fraud by targeting professional enablers with tougher safeguards introduced across the public sector as key pillars of the new anti-corruption strategy.
A statement from the government said: “The UK will clamp down on rogue actors, disrupt dirty money and restore integrity in public life.
“While the vast majority of firms operate within the law and take action against criminality and attempted criminality, a minority subset of financial and professional services firms known as “professional enablers” play a key role in helping corrupt and other malign actors to access these services and enable their wrongdoing.
“Their behaviour is deliberate, reckless, improper, dishonest and/or negligent through a failure to meet their professional and regulatory obligations. By expanding the use of sanctions and scaling up the National Crime Agency’s capability and coordination, enablers will be hunted down and prosecuted for moving criminal profits.”
Baroness Hogg will lead a review of asset and beneficial ownership in the UK to identify vulnerabilities that can be exploited by criminals and produce recommendations on how these can be addressed.
The Domestic Corruption Unit (DCU) based in the City of London Police will be given £15 million in additional funding to allow specialist officers to take on more investigations and support local forces to detect and disrupt bribery and money laundering networks nationwide – building on probes this year along into corruption across local councils, housing and financial services.